The vast majority of the leaders in the ELCA are liberal, left-wing democrats who use your offering dollars to push their political and social agenda. They are strong proponents of abortion but are against capital punishment for the worst violent offenders. They want more restrictive gun laws but can not make the connection between terrorist actions and Islam. They push for LGBT causes, including making unrepentant practitioners leaders in the church, but they are against laws that protect the first amendment rights of Bible-believing business persons to not participate in the celebration of sinful actions. They are against the state of Israel, a haven of freedom, and they side with the "Palestinian" people who celebrate the murder of Jewish children, naming streets after the perpetrators of evil. They sound the alarm of "climate change," "white privilege" and embrace the "BlackLivesMatter" movement (see here).

These are liberals, no doubt. Is this what you want out of your Biblical teachers? (we won't even get into the multitude of ways they are in opposition to Scripture).

Recently Pew Research Center came out with findings showing the 43% of ELCA members lean toward or identify with the Republican Party. (see here)

If you want a clue to what the ELCA leadership thinks of people who are conservative and/or Republican, take a look at what Josh Evans, who describes himself on Twitter as a "Seminarian at @LSTChicago. Gay, sarcastic, introverted, justice-seeking Lutheran" (go to Josh's twitter comment here) says:

Many Evangelical Lutheran Church in America members have figured out the liberal, anti-Biblical ways of their church leadership and the numbers make it apparent. The once 5 million member denomination is now 3.7 million and growing smaller every month. I've highlighted the financial troubles of the ELCA over the last six years and here are two more statements that underscore the financial crisis the ELCA is facing:

​“Over the past 18 years, annual offerings have dropped by more than 50 percent—from $3.6 million in 1997 to $1.7 million in 2014” - Women of the ELCA (WELCA) reports on their finances (see here - page 4).

H. Julian Gordy, bishop of the ELCA's Southeastern Synod reveals this about his synod:

"The percent of giving from congregations to mission support has declined for at least the past three decades. Over the past seven years, we have addressed the decline with severe cuts in our synodical programming budget and in support of committees and task forces. We have significantly cut our support of our synod's agencies and institutions, and we have cut salaries and staff positions in the synod office." (see here)

Although I don't subscribe to the millennialist interpretation of biblical prophecy, I do watch The Hal Lindsey Report frequently, because it provides a sane analysis of news events. I recommend watching the July 22 show.
http://www.hallindsey.com/videos/hal-lindsey-report-7222016/490/

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Dave from Minnesota

7/27/2016 03:04:33 pm

You touch on something by mentioning offering dollars. That is my biggest issue with the ELCA. There are a lot of lifetime Lutherans out there who give very generously to their church. They are lead to believe that this is the same Lutheran church that their families have been attending for perhaps 100 years.
Is the pastor at a more conservative ELCA congregation any more ethical than a televangelist when it comes to asking for money? I realize the vast majority of giving goes to support their church and legitimate charitable works, but enough goes to a very liberal parent organization whose values do not reflect many of those sitting in the pews and opening up their wallets.

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Dave

7/27/2016 05:27:58 pm

Dave, THIS is why I mark my offering envelope "For Local Church Use Only." If I HAVE to stay in an ELCA affiliated congregation, I can at LEAST draw a line in the sand!

I agree I have made it plain to my treasuer that none of my money goes to anywhere but to my local church

John

7/29/2016 09:58:25 pm

Dave and Allen,
You either say or imply that you "HAVE to stay in an ELCA affiliated congregation." Why? For your own eyes only, could you finish this sentence: "Despite the alternatives, I plan to be an active member of a denomination I know is wrong, and it is worth it because ..."

Walter

7/30/2016 02:54:01 pm

The translators' preface to the King James Bible supplies a possible answer: "He that medleth with men's religion in any part, medleth with their custom, nay, with their freehold; and though they find no content in that which they have, yet they cannot abide to hear of altering."

Martin

7/31/2016 03:27:56 pm

I go even further in ensuring my donations don't go the ELCA. I live in the Cincinnati area and have a huge problem with the Southern Ohio Synod. Having previously been the Stewardship Chairman and Treasurer, I understand all to well how money is moved around. You have to be very careful where you designate. If it's to maintenance of the building then monies are moved from the maintenance budget and put somewhere else. So in other words, your designated only shifted the money around. What I do is donate to scholarship money to send children to camp via Lutheran Outdoor Ministry.

Dave

8/7/2016 08:38:06 pm

John, your question makes sense. The only other Lutheran church in the area is LC-MS. The nearest Lutheran church "in the middle" is an NALC congregation about 100 miles away. I AM considering leaving this congregation and making the drive once or twice a month, but think right now the thing to do is fight from the inside. The last vote we had (Dec of 2015) was 60/40% against looking at alternatives. The problem is: If all the people who have ALREADY left because of issues with the ELCA had been present, the vote would have undoubtedly gone differently. Fighting and trying to open eyes from the inside seems like the right thing to do. If I'm eventually kicked out for causing "schism" then my reply will be: "Here I stand!"

ELCA leaders don't seem to be talking about the terrorist attack in Nice, France, where Mohamed Bouhlel slaughtered 84 people using a 19-ton truck as a weapon. I suppose the incident doesn't support their case for gun control, or their case that Islam is the Religion of Peace.

You can read more about the incident at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3708203/Two-arrested-France-connection-attack-Nice-source.html

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JS

7/28/2016 06:40:39 pm

As the church dilutes the Gospel message, it's interesting to see what appears to fill the void.

When the true Gospel is watered down and ceases to tell us to repent, people still need some way to define right and wrong. Enter social causes, which permit us to define "sin" as polluting the environment, disagreeing with alternative lifestyles, cutting back on social assistance programs, etc. You can devote yourself to a cause, and feel like you're being a good Christian that way, instead of dealing with what's really going on inside your own heart.

Don't get me wrong - as a conservative, I am all for helping the poor, loving my neighbor, and not dumping my trash everywhere. And while I do not agree with alternative lifestyles, I think that the Orlando tragedy was a horrible thing. But I do not believe that just because I do and think those things that I can call myself good and forget about fighting the sin in my own life.

Unfortunately, Christ's power to transform individuals' lives has become passe in the modern church. We've sold His true power out for the social cause du jour, and that has become our gospel, and a weak one at that.

It's no wonder the numbers are declining. Conservatives are sick of the hypocrisy, misplaced emphasis, and tolerance of sin, and they leave liberal congregations for other churches. And the less religious of the liberal crowd see no difference between the church and the rest of society at large, so they ultimately think there's little need to church in the first place.

What is also very interesting to me is the very thing that neutralizes the need for these social causes in the world at large is the true Gospel. If America experienced another Great Awakening, we'd see major declines in the need for some of these social movements. Yet the government pushes us in the other direction, as they banish the true Gospel message from just about everywhere they can. And the liberal church is doing no better, as they strip it of its power.

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Edward

8/1/2016 05:46:26 pm

When there is no chance of a congregation leaving the ELCA, the conscientious Christian has a duty to leave that congregation. It's no good saying, "I just want to worship at my conservative congregation; I KNOW that the ELCA's teachings are heretical." The trouble is that your fellow congregants DON'T know that; if they did they would want to leave the ELCA. Your presence in the ELCA congregation is a stumbling block to your weaker brethren.

"So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.... But not everyone knows this.... For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge." (1 Cor. 8:4, 7, 10-11)

"The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons." (1 Cor. 10:20)

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Edward

8/1/2016 08:12:36 pm

The ELCA serves the idol of political correctness. That of itself is demonic.

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Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. ​1 Thessalonians 5:21

Dan Skogen

Former ELCA seminary student and former ELCA member who is fed up with the ELCA's consistent mockery of God's Word.

If you have been helped and blessed by Exposing the ELCA's ministry, please help us continue to proclaim the truth of God's Word to ELCA members who need to hear it.